One of Harrison's first acts as president was to implement a new training program for college

graduates hired by the company. Rather than being placed in supervisory roles, they were given
regular entry-level jobs in the engine shops and on the building and repairing of railroad track, to
give them an understanding of the basics of the railroad business. He also instituted a remedial
education program for the regular workforce; they were trained in mathematics and other subjects
to high school level, as well as in engine and machine-shop basics. The program was designed to help
train new supervisors in the skills needed to oversee other workers.[11]

Another of Harrison's goals was to raise the morale of the workforce and locomotive engineers;
crews were assigned to the same locomotives, and senior engineers were allowed to paint their
names on their engines. When business declined in 1914 Harrison reduced his salary by 20 percent,
but introduced smaller and graduated cuts for other staff, with the smallest percentages at the
lowest pay scales. Other efforts to improve morale included rewards for fuel efficiency and the
improvement of safety, including stricter investigation of accidents.[11]

Harrison oversaw changes in the railway's board of directors. Until 1915, most of the members of
the board were from the northern United States but, after 1915, a majority of the board members
were southerners. In 1914, there were two unusual appointments to the board: Edwin Alderman
and John Kilgo. Alderman was the president of the University of Virginia and Kilgo was a bishop in
the Methodist Episcopal Church.[12]